Battle of Hel

Significance

The Battle of Hel was fought on the Hel Peninsula along the Baltic Sea coast from 1 September to 2 October 1939, as part of the broader German invasion of Poland. Polish forces numbering approximately 2,800 defended the Hel Fortified Area, a system of fortifications built in the 1930s near the interwar border with the Third Reich, against a German force of roughly 38,000. The defense extended more than a month after the German invasion began, making it one of the more prolonged Polish holdouts of the September campaign. The engagement reflects the broader pattern of the 1939 invasion, in which isolated Polish defensive positions continued resistance well beyond the collapse of organized Polish field armies.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (4)